We talk to our customers a lot and what comes through loud and clear is they want Equinix to be in more locations. We listened and have acted, resulting in today’s news that we have tripled our Australian data centre footprint after closing the acquisition of Metronode, first announced in December.

There are two reasons why this geographic reach is important and why our customers are seeking it. First, the cross-country and international interconnection capability it creates. Second, the ability to help our current and future customers move to the digital edge – where data is now physically closer to customers.

Bringing our total site locations in Australia to 15, Equinix now has a national footprint that fulfils a big promise to our customers, via an acquisition that represents our determination to continually meet their growing needs.

This is particularly exciting at a time when IDC says, in a commissioned report for Microsoft, that Australia is well poised to experience an economic boom thanks to digital transformation – $45 billion by 2021[1] – if we get it right.

Why Interconnection is more important than ever before

In today’s digital age, customers, employees and partners are dispersed over more geographic locations than ever before and have increasing expectations. They are processing more data, using a multitude of devices. To meet those expectations and be successful, organisations must build their digital infrastructure where it can scale to match the opportunities, often in real time.

Businesses need to understand that they can prepare for digital transformation by deploying intelligently and moving closer to the edge, where internet traffic meets applications, where users need data and enterprises must make it available. The benefit for cloud service providers, network service providers, customers and partners is that they are best placed to unlock digital value, aligning business and IT strategies to ensure their own success and embracing the latest architectures and ecosystems along the way.

As the tech-centric New America think tank puts it[2]: “Interconnection puts the ‘inter’ in the internet, joining many networks into a single system that permits one connected device to reach other connected devices.” It’s part of the reason why our Global Interconnection Index predicts Sydney will be the second most interconnected city in the Asia-Pacific region, with a 44 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2020.

Our expanded national footprint and the interconnection it supports allow the varied businesses we work with to dynamically discover and reach crucial partners and providers within their ecosystem – on demand, through one connection.

A public or private organisation can tap directly into a cloud provider, telecom provider, digital media and other service providers using a private interconnection that’s superfast, reliable and secure.

This ability to tie into mission-critical internet and communications infrastructure via our data centres, as if they were in a single system, allows our customers to more securely and reliably scale their digital infrastructure across Australia. In turn, they can offer even more distributed services to more customers throughout the country.

Bringing it back to the consumer

The level of direct connection Equinix now provides means companies can adapt quickly to change and use digital ecosystems to create new value and growth. An interconnected organisation can then instantly distribute data, content and collaborative apps out to the Digital Edge, which is closer to users and the dense ecosystems of partners, cloud services and network providers.

With our new expanded national footprint in Australia, Equinix can help customers re-architect their IT for this digital edge. This provides unlimited business opportunities for everyone, with greater access to international connectivity via the largest interconnection platform in the world.

Additionally, Metronode has a strong customer base and track record in government at both the State and Federal levels and Equinix is looking forward to further supporting Australian government agencies across the country.

Since we announced our Metronode acquisition, we’ve been thrilled to see that some of Australia’s largest corporations, telecommunications and IT service providers have expressed an interest in our expanded footprint.

We will continue to expand in Australia and beyond as we push to further support Australia’s ever expanding digital economy. By strategically growing and expanding Platform Equinix, we’ll enable our customers to do the same, allowing Australian businesses to reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything.